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4 April is International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action when global campaign Lend Your Leg (Official webpage:www.lendyourleg.org/) will come to the end when supporters symbolically roll up pant legs expressing their support for all mine victims whose lives have drastically changed and to warn those countries that have not yet signed the Convention to accede to the Mine Ban Treaty.

On the occasion of the official visit of H.E. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the President of the republic of Turkey, a bench of peace and friendship was placed at the Jable caste today. The bench symbolises friendly relationships between the two nations, with no open questions.

CEP hosted civil servants of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Montenegro, Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Macedonia on their study visit to Slovenia.

In the past week a field visit to Republic of Serbia aimed at detailed review of Serbian system of response in emergency situation was successfully completed.

In the framework of the development cooperation between Republic of Slovenia and Republic of Serbia in the area of development of voluntary rescue organisations, Slovenian delegation consisting of delegates from the Fire Fighting Association of Slovenia and Administration of the Republic of Slovenia for Civil Protection and Disaster Relief lead by Centre for European Perspective (CEP) will be visiting Serbia from 10 to 12 March 2015 for the assessment visit. The purpose of the visit is analysis of the state of affairs and legislative framework of the system of response in emergency situation and role of relevant voluntary rescue organisations in Serbia. Among others, the delegation will be received by Assistant Minister of Internal Affairs and Head of the Sector for the Emergency Management at the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Serbia Predrag Marić and President of the Fire Fighting Association of Serbia Dragan Mihajlović.

Between 5 and 7 May 2015 on the castle Jable, Centre for European Perspective (CEP) is going to organize three-day training for short-term observers, with an emphasis on understanding key aspects of short-term election observation.

Within the framework of the International Development Cooperation of the Republic of Slovenia the Centre for European Perspective (CEP) finished a two day workshop on »Strengthening the Independence of Election Bodies«. The workshop was jointly opened by His Excellency the Ambassador of the Republic of Slovenia Mr. Bojan Bertoncelj and President of the Parliament of the Republic of Albania, His Excellency Mr. Ilir Meta.

Strengthening of democratic institutions is for Albania as a candidate for EU membership of utmost importance. This also includes the electoral system, which is one of the cornerstones of a democratic rule of law. The aim of the workshop was to contribute to the exchange of experiences and best practices between Albania and Slovenia in light of the upcoming local elections in Albania.
On the first day of the workshop, discussions through comparative analysis were focused on: guiding principles, independence, transparency, professionalism, internal rules and procedures of election management bodies. Special attention was given also to non-governmental organizations, the role of women and new technologies. On the second day of the workshop conclusions and recommendations, which will hereafter serve the Central Electoral Commission of Albania to implement management models of elections, were drawn. Further, these recommendations will be used by the Central Election Commission to increase the independence, impartiality of management, professionalism and independence of the Electoral Commission.

The workshop was conducted by Lefterije Luzi, president of the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Albania; Mr. Dusan Vučko, director of the National Electoral Commission of Republic of Slovenia; dr. Alenka Verbole, election expert and dr. Igor Gaon, election expert.

The workshop participants were staff members of the Central Electoral Commission of Albania, electoral experts with experience in the region, representatives of non-governmental organizations working in the field of elections and electoral processes, Members of Parliament, representatives of the Albanian political parties and legal experts. The workshop was also attended by Valdete Sala, president of the Central Election Commission of Kosovo.

CEP prepared the training in cooperation with the Central Election Commission and the Embassy of the Republic of Albania in Tirana. The project is funded with support from the International Development Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Republic of Slovenia.

Speech H.E. Bertoncelj / Govor VP Bertoncelj

 CEP je zaključil z dvodnevno delavnico »Krepitev neodvisnosti volilnih organov« (Tirana, 2-3 marec 2015)

V okviru Mednarodnega razvojnega sodelovanja Republike Slovenije je Center za evropsko prihodnost (CEP) med 2-3 marcem v Tirani izvedel prvo delavnico usposabljanja na temo krepitve neodvisnosti organov upravljanja z volitvami. Delavnico sta skupaj odprla Njegova ekselenca veleposlanik Republike Slovenije g. Bojan Bertoncelj in predsednik parlamenta Republike Albanije Njegova ekselenca gospod Ilir Meta.

Krepitev demokratičnih institucij je za Albanijo kot kandidatko za članstvo v EU izjemnega pomena. V ta okvir spada tudi volilni sistem, ki predstavlja enega od temeljev demokratične in pravne države. Namen delavnice je bil prispevati k izmenjavi izkušenj in najboljših praks med Albanijo in Slovenijo v luči bližajočih se lokalnih volitev v Albaniji.

V prvem dnevu delavnice so bile diskusije s primerjavo pravnih sistemov usmerjene predvsem v analizo: vodilnih načel, neodvisnosti, preglednosti, strokovnosti, internih pravil in procedur organov upravljanja z volitvami. Posebna pozornost je bila namenjena nevladnim organizacijam, vlogi žensk in novim tehnologijam. V drugem dnevu delavnice so bili pripravljeni konkretni zaključki in priporočila, ki bodo v nadaljevanju služili centralni volilni komisiji Albanije za izvajanje modelov upravljanja z volitvami, ki lahko povečajo neodvisnost, nepristranost upravljanja, strokovnost in neodvisnost volilne komisije.

Delavnico so izvedli ga. Lefterije Luzi, predsednica Centralne volilne komisije Republike Albanije; g. Dušan Vučko, direktor Državne volilne komisije Slovenije; dr. Alenka Verbole, strokovnjaknija za volitve, OSCE; dr. Igor Gaon, strokovnjak za volitve.

Udeleženci delavnice so bili člani osebja centralne volilne komisije Albanije, strokovnjaki za volitve z izkušnjami v regiji, predstavniki nevladnih organizacij, ki delujejo na področju volitev in volilnih postopkih, člani parlamenta, predstavniki albanskih političnih strank in pravnih strokovnjakov. Delavnice se je udeležila tudi ga. Valdete Sala predsednica Centralne volilne komisije Kosova.

CEP je pripravil usposabljanje v sodelovanju z Centralno volilno komisijo Albanije in Veleposlaništvom RS v Tirani. Projekt je financiran iz sredstev za mednarodno razvojno sodelovanje Ministrstva za zunanje zadeve.

Within the framework of the International Development Cooperation of the Republic of Slovenia the Centre for European Perspective (CEP) will carry out a two day workshop on strengthening the independence of election bodies. Strengthening of democratic institutions is for Albania as a candidate for EU membership of utmost importance. This includes also the electoral system, which is one of the cornerstones of a democratic rule of law.

Centre for European Perspective's project proposal was selected to receive financial support from the EU Strategy for the Danube Region – START Fund, for the project Illicit Trafficking of Firearms in the Danube Region. Project will be implemented with three partners, namely with the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy (Serbia), Centre for Security Studies (Bosnia and Hercegovina) and Centre for Monitoring and Research CeMI (Montenegro). Its main objective is to improve the fight against illicit trafficking of firearms in the Danube Region through strengthened cooperation between practitioners (law enforcement and judicial authorities) and researchers.

The castle Jable yesterday (22 January 2015) held a public debate on the draft Declaration on the new foreign policy, which Slovenia should adopt in the first half of this year. Foreign Minister Karl Erjavec initially pointed out that the document is still open for comments and majority of those who were present agreed that the draft represents a good starting point, even though that there is still some place for improvements.